2 March 2004

PRESS RELEASE

ELECTRONIC VOTING LIKELY TO COST OVER 50 EURO PER VOTER SAY THE GREENS

The Green Party has called on Martin Cullen and the Government to publish the costs associated with the introduction of electronic voting.

This morning, at a press briefing on Electronic Voting organised by Irish Citizens for Trustworthy E-voting, computer expert Joe McCarthy suggested that costs for the introduction of the new system are running at 82.5 million euro and are continuing to rise. He obtained this information through Freedom of Information requests.

Ciarán Cuffe TD today stated that: “1.46 million people voted in the last European and Local Elections in 1999. Based on this figure the introduction of electronic voting will cost over 50 euro per voter. This is a massive cost. We want to know why Minister Cullen is so keen to proceed with the system despite the massive cost implications.”